Warm air brooding system



y 7, 1964 P. s. MARTIN 3,139,858

WARM AIR BROODING SYSTEM Filed July 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ag i.

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PL'ARY 5t MART/IV ATTMPMEX July 7, 1964 P. s. MARTIN WARM AIR BROODINGSYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 17, 1962 INVENTOR. P569) 5. MART/M BYi: W Z

. rlall!l'ilf lllldlfllllii'llill United States Patent 3,139,858 WARMAIR BROODING SYSTEM Perry S. Martin, Box 6, Harrisonburg, Va. Filed July17, 1962, Ser. No. 210,357 '-1 Claim. (Cl. 11931) This invention relatesto the art of artificially brooding artificially hatched poultry.

One object of the invention is to produce an improved brooding apparatusand system.

Artificially hatched chicks must be provided with heat to replace thatwhich, under natural conditions, the mother hen supplies. To this end,it has, for many years, been the practice to use a large number of wood,oil, coal or gas stoves to heat a relatively large brooder house forbrooding a large number of chicks. These stoves are equipped withcanopies or hovers for heating the floor area there-beneath. The use ofa large number of stoves requires much labor and care, and the presenceof a large number of stoves constitutes a serious fire hazard.

It has also been proposed to use heating coils which where supplied withhot water, or with steam, and were mounted about 12" above the floor.Such coils are ex pensive to install, operate and maintain, and becausecoils supplied with hot water respond very slowly and because coilssupplied with steam heat cool off very quickly, there was a considerabletemperature override and the much desired uniformity in the temperatureunder the hover could not be attained.

Another disadvantage of using a steam, or a hot water system is the factthat the coils are necessarily stationary and make cleaning under themdifficult and time consummg.

It has also been proposed to use warm air for both heating andventilation, but this expedient, too, has not been satisfactory because,if the air is not diffused gently into the hover, it will produce draftswhich induce, and spread, various respiratory diseases. If the warm airis diffused gently, it tends to escape through the space between thebottom edge of the hover and the floor and to rise toward the ceilingwithout adequately warming the floor or the chicks below the hover. Infact, it is now recognized that the problem of respiratory diseases islargely one of proper temperature and draftless ventilation.

It is therefore a further object of this invention to produce animproved brooder, and an improved brooding system, whereby the requisitewarmth and ventilation are inexpensively attained without subjecting thechicks to injurious drafts.

In commercial brooding, a large number of hovers are placed in onebrooder house and a large number of chicks are brooded under each hover.Because the chicks brooded under various hovers may be of differentages, and because as a chick grows older, its warmth requirementdecreases and its ventilation requirement increases, it is imperativethat the warmth and ventilation supplied to each hover be accuratelyindividually controlled according to the age of the chickens using thehover. This is especially critical because fowl in general, and youngfowl in particular, have rapid breathing and pulse rates and requiremore air per pound of live weight than any other animal.

It is therefore a still further object of this invention to produce animproved brooding system and apparatus 3,139,858 Patented July 7., 1964whereby the warmth and ventilation of each brooder, in a large enclosurehousing a number of separate hovers, can be individually and accuratelyvaried and controlled.

Generally stated, my invention contemplates heating air and transformingpart of the heat component of the air into radiant heat before the airreaches the chicks and then utilizing the air for ventilation.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the followingspecification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a highly diagrammatic view, partly in section and partly inelevation, showing a brooding system embodying the invention andincluding a single plenum supplying a number of individual hovers.

FIG. 1-a is an enlarged, fragmentary and diagrammatic view showing theaddition of an auxiliary damper to the structure shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line2-2 on FIG. 1, showing the internal structure of the individual hoversshown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line3-3 on FIG. 1 and showing the manner in which the ratio of recirculatedair to fresh air is reguated.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged elevational view of the right hand end of theplenum shown at the top of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged and elevational view looking in the direction ofline 5-5 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view looking in the direction of line 6-6 on FIG.5.

As diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1, the brooder system includes afurnace, or other air-heating appliance 10, a plenum 12 connected toreceive warm, filtered air from the furnace and branch conduits 14leading to a number of hovers 15, 16 and 17. It will be understood thatplenum 12, and the hovers supplied thereby, are located in a building,or other enclosure, only the floor 18 and one side wall 20 of which areshown. In FIG. 1, the furnace is shown within the building with a freshair intake 13 leading from the atmosphere outside the building into thefurance.

The furnace is purely conventional as to the fuel used, and as to themanner in which the fuel is burned. Therefore, these features are notshown or described. For the purpose of this disclosure, it is enough tosay that the furnace is provided with blowers 22 and 23 which areprovided with dampers 24 and 25, respectively, whereby one, or both ofthe blowers may be used and whereby, when the dampers are open, as shownin FIG. 1, the air is directed downwardly to insure contact with theentire heated surfaces of the furnace. Likewise, fresh air intake duct13 is controlled by adjustable damper 26. The portion of the duct insidethe building is provided with cross pipe 28, FIG. 3, the open ends ofwhich are controlled by dampers 30 and 32, respectively. It will benoted that pipe 28 is within the building which houses the hovers andthat by opening and closing dampers 30 and 32, the re-circulation ofroom air is controlled as may be indicated.

In order to regulate the pressure within plenum 10, the end thereofremote from the furnace is open and is provided with a damper 36 whichis pivoted on pin 38 carried by a bracket 40 which, conveniently, iscarried by the end of plenum 10, as best shown in FIG. 4. Damper 36 isprovided with arcuately arranged openings 42 adapted to be selectivelyengaged by the tapered end 44 of a weight 46 at the end of an arm 48which is pivoted to the damper, as at 50. It will be noted that theuppermost and lowermost openings 42, as viewed in FIG. 5, arediametrically opposed and that, when weight 46 is engaged with theuppermost of openings 42, as viewed in FIG. 5, it presents the leastresistance to the opening of damper 36 and that, when weight 48 isengaged with the lowermost of said openings, it presents maximumresistance to the opening of the damper. Therefore, by engaging weight46 with any of the intermediate openings 42, the resistance offered byweight 46 and, hence, the pressure in response to which damper 36 willopen will be varied accordingly. From FIG. 6 it will be seen that damper36 is of a channelshaped cross section whereby any air issuing at theend of the plenum will be diverted toward the floor where the chicksare. Another advantage of the automatic damper 36 is that it permits anincreased volume of air to flow through the end of the plenum farthestfrom the furnace, thereby helping to maintain a more even temperaturethroughout the entire length of the plenum. As will be seen from FIG. 2the hover of the present invention is in the form of a conical casingwhich encloses the air diffusing and pressure control mechanism so eachhover constitutes a preassembled unitary brooder.

In order to facilitate raising and lowering each hover separately, andin order to make it possible to move a hover out of the way to cleanunder it, each branch pipe 14 is provided with a flexible extension 52which may be made of canvas, or other flexible material, such as rubber.Each extension 52 is provided with a fitting 54 which leads into chamber56 which has a larger area than pipe 14 so that it serves to reduce thepressure of the air received from pipe 14. Reducing chamber 56communicates, through opening 58, with auxiliary plenum 60 whichcommunicates, through opening 61, with distribution chamber 62.Distribution chamber 62 is defined by an insulated upper wall 63 and agood heat-conducting and radiating bottom wall or shield 64. It will benoted that upper Wall 63 is separated from the roof 65 of the hover by alarge dead air space, which conserves heat, and that opening 61 iscentrally located to equalize the pressure in chamber 62. Opening 58 isadapted to be fully, or partly, closed, by a damper 66, which is carriedby arms 67, one at each side of chamber 60. Arms 67 i are fixedlycarried by a rod 71 which is pivoted in the walls of chamber 60 andcarries balance arm 72 which carries fixed weight 73 and movable weight74. Secured to damper 66 and freely movable in chamber 56 is a vane 76which counterbalances arm 72. In the position of FIG. 2, weight 74 has anegligible effect, if any, and weight 73 is so calibrated that, as longas the impact of the air on vane 76 is of a predetermined value, weight73 will outweight damper 66 and vane 76 and damper 66 will assume thebroken line position in which damper opening 58 is wholly unobstructed.When the impact of the air on vane 76 increases, damper 66 is moved downfully, or partially, to close opening 58. By moving weight 74progressively toward fixed weight 73, the force necessary to move damper66 downwardly will be increased accordingly. In other words, movement ofweight 74 towards weight 73 increases the volume of air flowing intochamber 56, and vice versa. This permits adjustment of the air accordingto the age of the chicks. For example, when the chicks are young and arehuddled closely under the hover, the hover is lowered nearer to thefloor and weight 74 is moved to the position of FIG. 2 to maintain theflow of air at the precalibrated value. As the chicks grow older andbegin to range, weight 74 is adjusted so as to keep opening 58 open,even in the face of increased flow of air from pipe 14. Also, as thechicks grow older, the hover is raised to increase the ventilation andtemperature throughout the brooder house.

The air reaching distribution chamber 62 heats the bottom 64 of thischamber as it flows toward, and out through, suitable peripheralpassages, as shown by arrows 79 in FIG. 2. By this arrangement, heatedwall 64 radiates heat directly onto the chicks and onto the floor onwhich the chicks are huddled, and the reduced temperature air flowingbetween the perimeter of the hover and the floor forms a curtain whichprovides ventilation and prevents drafts of cold air from enteringbetween the lower edge 78 of the hover and the floor. If desired, athermometer 89 can be removably inserted through an appropriate hole toenable the attendant periodically to note the prevailing temperature andto make the adjustments indicated.

The hover is adjustably mounted on uprights 82 so that its height abovethe ground can be varied according to climatic conditions and accordingto the age of the chicks using the hover. This adjustment is facilitatedby canvas connection 52.

When dusk sets in, the mother hen clucks her chicks home. In anartificial brooding house, the chicks are frustrated and must beshepherded into the shelter of the hover. I found that, if a light 32 isprovided, the chicks will foregather under it as soon as the room inwhich they were ranging begins to get dark.

Dust is an effective heat insulator and for best results, the bottomwall 64 of distribution chamber 62 should be kept clean. To facilitatecleaning without extensive dismantling, wall 64 is made in one centralsection C and two end sections E which are detachably assembled andsupported so that they can be individually removed. As shown in FIG. 2,the outer ends of sections E are supported by pivoted brackets 84 whichare carried by the hover, and the inner ends of sections E aredetachably supported by brackets 86 which are carried by suitablysuspended center section C. A suitable hand hole, not shown, affordsaccess to weight 74 to permit adjustment thereof.

By this arrangement, warmed and filtered air, consisting of the desiredamounts of fresh and recirculated air is controllably delivered intoplenum 10 with the pressure therein controlled by dampers 24 and 25 andby damper 40; the air reaching any one hover is diffused in chamber 56to reduce its kinetic energy and its volume is controlled by damper 58so that it may be further diffused in auxiliary plenum 60 and indistributing chamber 62 before it is discharged in the form of a curtainbetween the bottom edge of the hover and the floor.

While in the commercial production, an effort is made to fill the entirebrooder house with chicks of the same age, this is not always feasibleand chicks of various ages have to be brooded under various hovers, butin the same house. It is well known that, as the chicks grow, theirrequirement of oxygen increases while their need for heat decreases.This means that the air input should be increased from week to week forolder chicks, and the heat input should be decreased. A reduction oftemperature in an individual hover may be secured to a considerableextent by raising the hover to move the heat radiator 64 further fromthe floor and the brooding area beneath. But for more effectivereduction of temperature and greater increase of the ventilation, Iprovide means for mixing controlled quantities of room air with the airmoving toward a given hover. Such control means may take the form of arotary ring damper 88 which, as shown in FIG. 1a, surrounds pipe 54 andis provided with openings 90. Ring damper is provided with ears 92 whichproject through a slot 94 in pipe 54 and are clamped, as at 96. Whenthis damper is used, pipe 54 is provided with openings 93. The operationof this damper is conventional in that, by rotating the damper relativeto the pipe, the flow of air from the room into pipe 54 may beregulated, or altogether stopped.

What I claim is:

A fowl brooder including:

a hover structure comprising an upper wall,

a lower wall having a high coefiicient of heat absorption and radiationdisposed below and spaced from said upper wall,

means mounting said hover structure above a brooding area, 5

conduit means supplying warm air under predetermined pressure to thespace between said walls,

said hover structure also including a side wall for directing airdownwardly through an opening between the periphery of said lower walland said side 10 wall to form a curtain of Warm air surrounding saidbrooding area.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

